The Stars Don't Tell Secrets
by Tweyelite
Summary: A sweet ff set after the movie Serenity. Pairing KayleeRiver. Rated T for femlash.


Title: The Stars Don't Tell Secrets  
Author: Tweyelite  
Fandom: Firefly/Serenity  
Pairing: Kaylee/River  
Rating: PG-13  
Warnings: It's sweet and innocent. Not mine, don't sue.

River stared out at the stars from the cockpit of Serenity. Her gaze never wavered, not even when Kaylee entered the room quietly and with slight unease. After all the cockpit was not Kaylee's domain. She tended to spend most of her time in the engine room.

Since Wash's death River had just assumed the responsibility of pilot. No one said anything. They all thought it was better that way. If they had gotten another pilot it would have seemed like they were trying to replace a family member. The deaths of all their friends were still too fresh in their memories.

"River doncha ever sleep?" Kaylee asked lightly.

"Not much. Dreams get mixed up with reality and then I'm not sure where I fit anymore." River said her tiny voice unsure.

"Aw well sweetie you know you can always come see me if you can't get any shut eye." Kaylee responded to her young friend.

River smiled wanly, her swan like neck curving as she looked at Kaylee with big brown eyes.

"I wouldn't want to bother you and Simon." She said with a tiny grin and a giggle. Kaylee blushed to her roots and looked to the floor nervously.

"Well you ain't gotta worry bout that none cuz we decided to be just friends." Kaylee nodded vigorously.

"The sex was awful." River supplied secretly enjoying Kaylee's mild discomfort. She took pity on the mechanic and placed a hand on her arm.

"Don't worry it's always night out here." She whispered, her gaze falling once more on the stars outside Serenity. "And the stars never tell secrets."

"What's it feel like?" Kaylee asked staring at River's reflection in the glass.

"What?" River asked unnecessarily.

"Passion, well you know, how you feel it 'tween others?" Kaylee asked genuinely curious. River blushed because she'd forgotten telling Kaylee about her experience with Zoe and Wash and bowed her head.

"It feels like a wave of heat," she said looking up at Kaylee with dark cloudy passion in her eyes. Kaylee swallowed convulsively as River continued. "And I get goose bumps all over. It makes my heart race. It makes me feel bad."

"Why bad?" Kaylee inquired trying her best to understand.

"They aren't mine. It's a lie to my body. It's just a trick. It's a private thing but nothing is private, not from me." River looked at Kaylee once more, holding her gaze this time.

Kaylee had tears in her eyes. She was imagining how it felt to be River every day, feeling Zoe's pain as if it were her own. River felt EVERYTHING Kaylee realized. She also realized that River was now looking at her with an expression on her face that she had never seen before.

One of awe, curiousity and something else she couldn't quite put her finger on. Kaylee couldn't stop looking into the girls penetrating eyes. She felt Rivers hand still placed on her arm and when she looked down she saw that all the hairs on Rivers arm were standing on end, and so were Kaylees.

Rivers breathing had turned shallow. Kaylee realized right then that River was feeling her first real passionate feeling for someone, not some telepathic shared experience that she was forced to feel but something tangible, to her. She knew she was only asking for trouble. She knew she should just back away. But Kaylees mind and body were not in sync.

She took a step forward and leaned in slowly giving River the sweetest and most tender of kisses. The softness of it made Kaylee smile as she pulled back. Kaylee felt the familiar buzz go through her body like electricity and she knew what it meant.

It hadn't felt anything like that with Simon or anyone, Kaylee thought to hersef. But now faced with the reality that she had kissed River Tam Kaylee had no idea what to do.

"Um, well.." she stammered.

River just smiled that serene and mysterious smile of hers and touched Kaylee's cheek lightly.

"Shhh, don't worry the stars don't tell secrets." She whispered before flitting off to her room for some sleep leaving a very confused mechanic on the bridge.

Kaylee took a deep breath before heading back to the engine room to think. Her right hand never left her own lips as she replayed the kiss with River. She ducked her head and blushed as she lay in her hammock. Her thoughts drifted to a smiling River dancing like a ballerina as she drifted into dreamland.

River rested her head on the pillow in her bunk and closed her eyes. She fell asleep knowing that she was going to have the same nightmares that she always had. But she didn't mind so much, because now she knew she could go crawl into bed with Kaylee and they would hold each other until the sun came up.


End file.
